


Grillby Talks

by Hawkscape



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Blood, Dogs, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Gender-neutral Reader, Injury, M/M, Minor Violence, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader-Insert, Swearing, only a little don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5323925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkscape/pseuds/Hawkscape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After stumbling upon a small bar one day you become fast friends with the owner and proprietor, Grillby, but will this friendship soon turn into something more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You didn't often venture into the monster part of town. It wasn't that you disliked monsters or where vehemently against them like some high and mighty politicians on the news, you just weren't used to turning around and seeing someone that wasn't human walking down the street and you were afraid you would make an ass of yourself by staring too long or saying something insensitive. It was more yourself being a problem then the monsters. You don't like to wander that far from home anyway, so it's never been a problem before. You see monsters as you take walks around your block all the time, but you hold you breath and try to stare a hole in the ground just to keep yourself from doing something stupid or staring. You can't seem to just give a passing glance or not care, middle ground is not your forte. You know you'll get over it eventually the more you are around them and the longer they're on the surface. You thought all that talk of the monsters living underground were just folk tales and are horrified that an entire group of living beings were forced underground because of stupid human fear.  


You are taking one of your walks around neighborhood when your stomach begins to growl and you realize that due to your often drifting mind, you've walked farther then usual out of your comfort zone. As you look around you huff at this fact as your stomach growls. You look at your phone and it confirms your suspicion that it's actually dinner time. Great. Your going to have to walk all the way back home before you can even think about food. You grumble internally as your stomach grumbles along. Your shove your phone back into your pocket and you survey your surroundings more closely. There are a few homes, a convince store, and some place called “Grillby's”. Is that a restaurant? You don't even think twice before you cross the street and make your way through the door. You breath in so fast you almost choke as you see the bar is full of monsters. A few of them turn to look at you and you sheepishly realize you pretty much slammed the door open in your haste to get food. You think about walking right back out the door, but your hunger drives you on. Your face burns as you quietly let the door shut behind you, bury your face in your wind breaker, and sit at an open seat at the bar. You just stare at the edge of the bar for a while, trying to reduce the embarrassment burning in your face.  


A voice breaks you from your mind spinning itself up. “Would you like to order?” It sounds vaguely male, but what strikes you about it has a slight echo like someone speaking in a big room while also being hiss filled, like a some type of lisp. You look up to feel a different kind of warmth flood your face as a monster with a head made of fire cleans a glass in front of you. He's wearing a nice vest, shirt, and some dark glasses. Does he even have eyes? You're transfixed by his shimmering vestige for a few moments before you realize he asked you a question.  


“U-uh yes I, um, what d-do you have?” The flaming man shrugs a shoulder behind him at the various array of bottles of alcohol behind him.  


“Not much you can have I'm afraid. We don't get many humans as patrons.” There is no malice or resentment in his voice, just a cool monotone.  


You hunch your shoulders and look down at the bar again. “O-oh, sorry...” You should have left when you first burst in the door.  


You hear the clinking of glasses and look up to see the flaming man reorganizing the glasses behind the bar. He speaks to you once again. “Don't apologize for being who you are.” The shimmering figure is still seemingly absentmindedly organizing behind the bar, leaving you to wonder if he actually said anything at all. He turns back to you as he wipes down the bar. “I would get you a drink of water, but I never touch the stuff.”  


You can't help but give a small snort as you cover your smiling mouth. It's hard to read his flickering face, but you hear some particularly harmonious crackling that you assume is laughter. “I have burgers or fries if you want food.” You nod your head vigorously as you suddenly remember how hungry you were.  


More crackling comes from the well dressed flame as he walks into the back room and back out with a burger and some fries in about 10 seconds. Wow, that was really fast. He sets them down in front of you. You go to grab a fry and promptly burn your fingers. You hiss slightly and stick your fingers in your mouth. Well, at least its fresh. “To hot?” The man crackles. You nod slightly at you take your fingers out of your mouth and try to get another fry, utterly shocked that its still hot after letting it be for only five seconds. “Hm, I thought it was average temperature.” You snort again as you put another fry in your mouth. It burns your tongue, but it tastes nice and salty so you don't care. You then pick up the burger and start to munch on that. You look around at the myriad of characters around the bar. Some skeletons, some dogs, and some ones that you don't even know what to call. The dogs look adorable and you want to pet them, but you're almost sure that would be rude.  


The flaming man has moved on to talk to some other patrons around the bar. You catch some snippets of the conversation a nearby horse man is having with him and he seems to call the flaming man 'Grillby'. Ah, so he's not just the bartender, he's the owner of the place. Good for him. You have respect for small business owners. Starting and running an entire business from scratch is quite a feat. You absentmindedly finish your burger as you're transfixed by the flame of the one called Grillby. The soothing flicker of him seems almost hypnotic as you begin to zone out while staring directly at the bartender. This place is nice and warm. Almost like home, even though you're new and surrounded by strangers. Your feel almost at ease. You're broken from this warm feeling as Grillby turns toward you and waves slightly. You realize you've been staring at him for a good few minutes and look down at your fries as your face heats up. He walks over to you and puts his arm on the bar to lean slightly towards you. “Do you need something?”  


You fumble over yourself as you try and call out to your fries to save you from this conversation. “U-u-m n-no I don't I, uh, sorry I got distracted by your face.” Oh. My. God. That was the worst possible way to phrase that ever. You face heats up both from your embarrassment and from Grillby's proximity. There is a beat of silence as you stare into the glasses of the bartender before his shoulders begin to shake slightly as the crackling erupts from him with new vigor. You crack a small smile and laugh awkwardly as he leans back. He reaches his hand forward and you tense slightly before you realize he's just grabbing your empty plates. He buses them just as quickly as he brought them out to you. You feel for what pocket your wallet's in as you stand up from your seat. “How much do I owe you?”  


Grillby waves his hand at you as he grabs another glass to clean off the back wall. “On the house. Haven't laughed that much in a while.” Something in your chest flutters at the fact that you improved his day.  


You walk to the door and turn back slightly be fore leaving. “Thanks.” You wave goodbye to the monster named Grillby and he waves back.  


You hear a soft crackle as you walk away. “Come back anytime.”


	2. Chapter 2

It takes you a few more weeks before you can get back to Grillby's again. Unfortunately it does not happen in the best of circumstances. It's raining and you're about to take the bus home from work because you don't have a car. The bus was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago and you're rather cold and miserable. You're already damp from walking to the bus stop and even the three sided structure can't stop the biting wind from chilling you. This last shiver makes up your mind and you angrily huff down the street for a good ten minutes before coming across Grilby's for a second time. You're soaked to the bone by this point and you consider toughing it out for the next twenty minutes of walking to get home, but you remember that feeling of warmth and comfort that the establishment brought and you find yourself shoving the door open with your shoulder and making your way to the bar again. You slide your hood down and a few more chilly drops make there way down your neck as you grimace.  


You look around the bar and it seems less crowded then it was the last time. You don't see any of the dogs that were there before and you feel a little sad. Even just seeing a dog would have improved your mood right now. They probably don't like getting wet any more then you do. A feeling of warmth like a space heater alerts you to your friendly neighborhood bartender having arrived in front of you again. You can't help the large smile that breaks across your features at seeing a familiar face on this gloomy day. Your smile falters slightly as you notice that his flame is smaller then it was when you last saw him. You can't stop yourself from blurting out. “Are you okay?”  


There's a small beat of silence filled only with the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. There's a small, but definitely softer crackle of laughter before he replies. “No need to worry, humid days just get me down.” You feel sad that anything could harm this comforting guy. You're slightly shocked at how much you care about someone that you've only known for a few weeks and met twice. He apparently sees the drooping look in your face and sets the ever-present glass he's cleaning down. “I should be asking you the same question. I'll get you a towel from the back.”  


You're about to tell him that he doesn't have to, but he's already disappeared behind the backroom door. You let out a sigh as you slump down on the counter. Grillby quickly comes back and hands out a towel to you. “I don't think I ever properly introduced myself. I'm Grillby.”  


He holds out the gloved hand. You reluctantly pull your hand out from the warm nest of your pocket, shake his hand, and introduce yourself. His hand is very warm. Like a heated blanket. You almost don't want to let go, but you do anyway. You begin to towel off your hair and finally put the towel around your neck to keep any more errant drops from dripping down your back. “Gold for your thoughts?” He says casually as he begins to clean glasses once more. You don't know if he really wants to know or is he's just being nice, but a combination of you're tiredness and the warm atmosphere makes you decide to open up. You tell him about the late bus and the rain and your sucky job. Grillby is quiet, but nods appreciatively. He then goes to the backroom and comes back with a glass of orange juice. You look at it quizzically before taking a drink. He shrugs again. “I recently got some more human drinks in. Seemed like you could use some.” You smile into your glass as you finish it.  


You set your head down on the counter and give Grillby an appreciative smile. “Thanks. For everything.” He just nods and goes over to another table. You put the towel over your head and close your eyes. You'll just sit here for a few more minutes before continuing on your way. You know you must looks like some kind of weirdo, but your tired legs and wet head don't seem to care. You listen to the various sounds of clinking glasses and rain hitting the ceiling.  


You don't quite fall fully asleep, but time does seem to slip away from you. You're jolted back into reality with a gentle warm hand on your shoulder shaking you. You're head shoots up as you realize that it has been decidedly more then a few minutes. You look around in panic to see Grillby standing behind you and that the entirety of the bar is empty. You quickly get up and try to straighten out your clothes. “I-I-I-I'm so sorry. I just, um, I feel asleep I'm so sorry.”  


Grillby waves his hand dismissively. “Don't worry, It's fine. It's only been about half an hour.” Your face is still probably bright red as you awkwardly fidget. This fidgeting causes the towel on you're head to fall to the ground and you bend down to pick it up, not wanting to make yourself even more of a burden to Grillby. Unfortunately, he bends down at the same time as you and you end up bumping your heads together. If he had a solid head it probably would have hurt, but you instead push the top of your face into the flame comprising his head. It feels...to be honest it feels very nice. Like a warm blanket in front of a fire place. Its not just the physical sensation though, it seems to also be the emotional feeling of being safe and warm. This shocks you so much that you pull back as though you had been burned by a normal fire.  


You quickly back away towards the door. You're not sure what you just did but you feel like you violated something unspoken. “I'm, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” You bolt out the door before Grillby can say anything and are running down the street in the gloom of the rain. You don't even bother to put the head up as tears begin to almost sting at your eyes. Your such a stupid baby. You knew you were going to mess something up, you knew it. Grillby was so nice to you to and you messed it up with your awkwardness. You're not even sure what you did when you touched his flame, but you feel guilty anyway. You slow to a walk as you replay your interactions with him over and over. You groan slightly and stop in your tracks when you realize that you never payed for the orange juice. After he got it especially for you to. You contemplate continuing to walk home and paying him back by never going to his restaurant again, but your guilt forces you to turn around and slowly walk back to the bar anyway. Not like your in a hurry to get home anymore, your night's pretty much already shot.  


You go over the speech you're going to say in your head before you get there. You don't want to spend any more time there then you need to. You get to the door and take a deep breath before you push it open and start your speech. “HeyI'msorryIrealizedIdidn'tpay...” You stop talking when you see some rather imposing humans occupying the restaurant. One of them is standing near the bar looking menacingly towards Grillby and the other is standing by some overturned tables and chairs. You're so shocked that your thoughts tumble out of your mouth. “What's going on...?” Both of the men turn towards you as well as Grillby who is shaking his head subtly at you as if telling you to leave with a seriousness you have never seen in him. The man near the overturned chair walks towards you and you step back involuntarily.  


“You know this candlestick?” One of the men says while motioning back at the stiff bartender. By the way its spat you know its not an affectionate nickname.  


You look at Grillby who is still shaking his head at you and then back to the guy in front of you. “Um...yes?” With a movement more swift then you had anticipated he shoves you sharply into the door.  


“Their monsters you idiot, they just want to kill us and take our souls.” You are shocked at how much of an asshole this guy is. You wish you had the courage to set him straight, but you're scared for your physical being.  


At this point Grillby starts towards you at the behest of the second man. “Come now, I...” You suddenly hear a horrid hissing sound that seems mixed with a scream as he seems to seize up slightly and fall to his knees stiffly. You see that the second man near the bar seems to be brandishing a water gun. You never thought a toy would fill you with such terror. You overcome your immediate fear of the man in front of you and push past him to kneel down next to the flaming man. The men seem to loose interest you and turn there attention more towards trashing the bar. Overturning tables and breaking chairs. You look up at the loud crashing and pull out your phone while trying to keep your voice from shaking. “You can't do that! Stop! Please! I'm, I'm calling the police you assholes!” You don't succeeded in sounding convincing, but the sight of you holding up your phone seems to be enough to get them to stop there destruction and walk towards the door. One of the men tried to shoot Grillby again with the water gun, but your able to block it easily. The guy then throws the gun at you which hits you in the head and hurts a lot more then you would have imagined. Their gone by the time you recover from the blow and think to actually make good on you're threat to call 911.  


“Um, yeah, I, there, there was a break in? Or more of a vandalism I think? And an assault. Definitely an assault.” You stutter through your explanation of what happened and you give the police the address of the place before they say that they will send a car immediately, while warning you it might be a while because of its non-emergency status. You hang up and turn your attention back to the bartender doubled over on the floor. Your reluctant to touch him, but worry overcomes your anxiety and you put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? Do you need an ambulance? I called the police, but, but I don't know if there going to send an ambulance um...”  


Grillby sits up and he grabs your arm for support. “I'll be fine. Just need to dry off.” He then tries to stand up, but it must have caused him to rub against the wet spot on his back as another disconcerting hissing sound causes him to stay seated on the floor. You inadvertently grip onto him tighter. “Why did you come back?”  


You blush slightly as you remember your earlier mistakes. You say quietly looking at the ground. “I, uh, forgot to pay for the juice.”  


You hear a more pleasant crackling sound as Grillby chuckles softly. “It was on the house. Kind of glad I didn't tell you that though.”  


You chuckle softly along with him. “Yeah. So am I. You're...you're a good person.” The sincerity shocks you for a moment as you realize how deep you've began to care for this monster that you only met recently. He notices your sincerity and he squeezes your arm again. The warmth of the points of contact between you are suddenly more apparent then before and you allow yourself to enjoy it without feeling guilty this time.  


It's going to be a while until the police get here and you don't really want to leave the bartender like this so you busy yourself with straightening out the restaurant. You right everything that's overturned and kick all the non-salvageable furniture into the corner. You and Grilby sit at one of the tables and chat until the police arrive.  


Its at a moment when a comfortable silence comes over the two of you when Grilby looks at the door of the bar and takes a more serious tone. “Thanks. For everything. You really didn't have to stay and help.”  


You look at your hands fidgeting on the table. “'Course I did man. Just the decent thing to do.” You try to play it off like you weren't scared for your life. Suddenly a warm gloved hand stills your fidgeting ones. You look up at Grillby who is looking at you quietly and you blush.  


He leans closer you your heart jumps. “You're bleeding...” You blink a few times and put a hand to your forehead. It comes away with dried blood on it.  


“Oh. Wow. Squirt guns can do more damage then I thought.” Apparently the sharp corners of the plastic had cause a slight gash in your head.  


Grilby chuckles as he leans back and squeezes your hand slightly. “You're telling me.” You laugh slightly long with him, but you're rather distracted by your held hand. You don't think you'll ever get over how nice and warm it feels to hold his hand.  


When the police arrive Grillby gets up and tells them what happened, you miss his hand touch, but you know you're just being silly. After giving the police you statement they leave and you are about to as well but the flaming man stops you. “It's rather late friend, how far do you have to walk home?”  


You bury your head in your collar and don't look at him. “Oh I mean not...that...far...” Even without being able to see his eyes you know he doesn't buy your story.  


Grillby looks towards the one of the walls to his left, letting his flame crackle in silence for a few moments before speaking. “I apologies if this seems uncouth, but I have a cot in the back that you could use until morning.”  


You are taken aback by the flaming mans kind offer, but you still feel bad imposing like that so you shake your head while turning back towards the door. “Thanks. A lot. But it's not raining that hard out and its not that late so...” You are cut off from your excuses by a large crack of thunder making you jump slightly and letting out a small shout. Grillby polity doesn't notice your fluster as he pulls out a pocket watch from his vest and it pops open with a small click. Wow, this guys dapper look wasn't just for show.  


He clicks the watch shut and tucks it back into his pocket and looked back to you. “It's practically midnight.”  


You eyes widen in shock. “What?” You pull out your phone and it confirms that it is indeed almost the witching hour. You drag your hand down your face before shrugging. “Ugh...well at least I don't have work tomorrow. I guess if its not to much trouble...” Grillby nods and leads you to the backdoor near the bar that you assume just lead to the kitchen.  


“Normally you wouldn't be able to go through here because its a fire door, and your not made of fire, but I suppose I can make an exception for an old friend.” You follow him through the door as you snort at his joke.  


You two wander through the kitchen which actually only consists of food storage systems with no actual cooking implements. You knew he had to be using some kind of magic to get the food out so fast. You then realize he called you an old friend and chuckle again. “I've only known you for a few weeks.”  


Grillby leads you past the kitchen to what seems to be an entire apartment behind the restaurant. This seems to be a bit more then just 'a cot in the back'. Grillby stops in what looks like a living room and turns to look down a hallway with lots of doors on it before responding. “And what an impression you've made.”  


You blush slightly at this even though you know its probably just another joke. He walks to one of the doors and opens it to show a small guest room with a dresser and side table along with a small twin sized bed that had not been used in a while, but looked clean. You smirk slightly at Grillby. “Oh, it's just a small cot in the backroom” you say in a mock deep voice “Just something small, it doesn't even have an adjoining bathroom.”  


Grillby beings to crackle as his shoulders shake slightly. “My apologies, the master suite was not available your highness.” He does an overly exaggerated bow.  


You strike a pose with your hand turned down at the wright. “Oh I SUPPOSE I can muddle through this tragedy.” There's a beat of silence before you both simultaneously burst out in laughter and crackles.  


After done crackling Grillby gestures slightly to the end of the hall. “Bathroom's down the hall next to my bedroom, so just holler if you need anything.” He turns and saunters to the end of the hall and turns into one of the rooms and flicks off the light switch near the door. Seeing the hallways only illuminated only in the amber light of the flaming man, it nearly makes you gasp. Needless to say he looks ethereally beautiful. “G'night.” He says and waves at you before shutting his door with a soft click. You stand there in the darkness fore a few moments with the lingering spots of the man on fire fade from your vision. You go into your room and shutting the door before sitting on the bed. Its a bit stiff but not the worst bed you've slept on. You think about taking off you're clothes, but then decide not to as you remove your shoes and coat before sliding under the covers. Its slightly dusty, but well maintained, like a when you stay over at a grandparents house. It's definitely better then walking home in the cold rain and thunder. You think of the kindness of Grillby and his hypnotic flickering form as you drift off the sleep with the rain pattering on the roof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GRILLBY IS A GENTLEMEN 
> 
>  
> 
> also thank you all for your kind comments, it's really appreciated


	3. Chapter 3

You don't know when you wake up, you are just suddenly aware that you are not asleep anymore. You briefly ponder what has woken you up before a loud crash of thunder makes you jolt under the warm covers. Oh well, that's not a big deal. You turn over and are about to go back to sleep until you realize that your really thirsty. You contemplate ignoring it to stay in your cocoon, but eventually pull yourself out from the covers and sit your feet on the floor. As you exit your room your night vision serves you well. You shiver slightly as the carpeted floor of the room transitions to cold hard wood in the hallway against your bare feet. You get to the end of the hall before you realize that your bleary brain cannot remember which door is which. There is a soft glow coming from underneath one that you quickly connect to being a bathroom, because your own bathroom has a night light in it, quickly forgetting that not everyone takes as many nighttime precautions as you. You open the door with eyes still half closed. You freeze when instead of a sink you see a king sized bed with a beacon of flame resting on one of its pillows. It clicks in your brain that the light was obviously not from a light bulb, but instead your incendiary host. How could you forget that?  


You try to close the door without waking your host, but a the soft crackle of your name makes you still. You open the door back up to see Grillby rubbing at where his eyes would be with one hand and propping himself up slightly on the other, covers slightly sliding off his torso to reveal his chest and shoulders. You're thankful your blush cannot be seen in the dark as you see that his body seems to be made of a glowing ember like substance, somewhat like lava, but more solid and clearly not burning the sheets. The first thing that pops into your head is that he is really hot, but you quickly smack yourself internally, not sure if it's due to the pun or due to the inappropriate feelings for your host.  


You frantically try to get him to go back to sleep in a hushed whisper. “Sorry sorry, didn't mean to wake you. I was looking for the bathroom to get some water and forgot where it was and uh sorry.” He removes his hand from his face and waves you off dismissively. “S'fine, no problem.” His words are harder to decipher through the crackles when he's sleepy and you find that oddly adorable. You really need to stop thinking like that. This man has let you into his home out of the goodness of his heart and you're skiving on him.  


You examine his face more with his hand out of the way and notice that he's not wearing glasses, and seems to not have any eyes. You feel like this should shock you, but you're almost glad that you can now observe his undulating flame without interference from any cover. It's like a campfire, but somehow cozier, due to his round regularity. Its oddly unnatural looking in its, but somehow that calms you. It takes away the constant danger that other “normal” fire possesses of getting out of control, you suppose. He notices your staring and stills rigidly. “Ah, my eyes...I apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you.”  


He seems to be about to reach for his glasses from the night stand to his left when you remember something he said when you first met. “Don't apologize for being who you are.” He stills his reach as you realize the feeling behind what you just said. You hadn't meant to be that deep, it was just he first thing to come to your head. You don't want Grillby to be ashamed of who he is and you think he's great. You try to make light of the situation again by recalling another incident from your first meeting. “It's not...I wasn't staring at your eyes, well I kind of was, but not in a bad way, I got kind of distracted by looking at you again.” A quite settles over the room as you realize that this has a slightly different connotation as you're staring at him with his shirt off in his bed instead of in a bar. You avert your gaze and are about to curse yourself for ruining the moment when you hear the much loved crackle of laughter from your flaming friend. You smile in relief that you haven't ruined such a nice friendship with your jumbled words.  


You hear the creaking of bed springs and you look up to see your chuckling host getting out of bed while stretching slightly. He seems to just be wearing striped pajama pants. His body structure is thin, but not unhealthy looking. It's both attractive and fascinating due to the movements of what appear to be muscles and bones underneath or within the seeming embers and lava. You're not sure how it's possible, but like seemingly everything else about this man, your eyes are drawn to it. He walks towards you and you're afraid he's caught you staring again, but he lightly pats you arm and walks past you into the hallways. “Let's get you a glass.”  


You begin to follow him back into the kitchen while trying to dissuade him from fussing so much on your behalf. “N-no its fine, I don't need a....glass.”  


He chuckles slightly as he opens one of his cabinets and pulls out a cup. “How are you going to drink something without a cup?”  


You shrug your shoulders as you take the cup reluctantly. “Well I mean ya'know...you kind of just like, cup your hands under the faucet and then like drink out of that.” You go over to the sink and poor yourself some water very self continuously as you realized about half way through your ramble that, no Grillby wouldn't know that. You lean back against the sink and fiddle with the glass slightly before speaking again. You feel like you need to break the silence. “It must be hard not being able to interact with water.”  


Grillby shrugged. “Hard for you does not mean hard for me. You don't have to worry about rain, but I don't have to worry about the sun. It's all a matter of perspective.” You hadn't really thought about that and now felt kind of stupid. Grillby pats you on the shoulder silently and begins to walk back towards the hallway. You begin to follow him when you are suddenly overcome with just how kind this man has been to you.  


You stop in your tracks and clear your throat. Grillby turns around and tilts his head to the side quizzically. You wring your hands around your cup and look into the water in your hand. “I just wanted to say...thanks for everything. Letting me stay here for the night and p-putting up with me, heh.”  


Grillby came to stand in front of you. “You seemed like you needed a break and you helped me when I was in a fix with those two rough necks. Seemed only fair to return the inconvenience.”  


You speak before thinking. “It wasn't an inconvenience! Well I guess It kind of was...but I care about you so it really...wasn't...that big of a deal...”  


You realize how much feeling you let slip unintentionally and are about to backtrack when you tilt your head up and realize how close Grillby's face is to yours. Your words of recanting die in your throat. The soft sound of the flames dancing on his head are now perceptible to you. The darker inner structure within the flames is inches from your face and you wonder if touching it would feel like when you accidentally touched his flame. You begin to blush involuntarily both from the memory and the current proximity. A quick errant though rushes through your mind saying that you could kiss him if you wanted to. You ask yourself if you even feel that way about him. You realize that yeah, you do. Probably due to how late it is, you find yourself leaning forward and resting your lips gently on the warm face of your friend.  


It definitely feels more intense then when you immersed your head, but it's only on your lips this time so it's not to overwhelming. To soon it crashes in your head what you've done and that it might not have been the best course of action. You jerk back so fast that you head rushes slightly. You don't know what to do so you do the first thing that you think of (despite that being what got you into this mess) which is to closing your eyes tightly. You realize that this is a really stupid thing to do and that it solves nothing, but you're slightly overwhelmed at the moment.  


It's only a few seconds before the gaping silence stretches into infinity in your mind and you muster up the courage to open one eye. You see Grillby in relatively the same statuesque state you're in, minus the perpetually undulating head. For the first time since meeting him, you wish he had some kind of facial feature to give some kind of indication on the ramifications of your smooch. The bartenders face then begins to become a darker amber color until it's almost fire engine red. Is he...blushing? You weren't sure he could blush, but this realization makes you open both your eyes. You're slightly relived at this because it means you're not the only one flustered. The silence is suddenly broken with a small cough as it's now Grillbys turn to fidget slightly.  


“Well...that...was nice...” Your eyes widen slightly at this confession.  


“It was?” You blurt out before you can think.  


“Um...I thought so? Did you...not?” You had never seen Grillby this unsure and you quickly forget your awkwardness for a moment to reassure him.  


“Ah no, no! I thought it was nice.” You shake your head and wonder if either of your faces can get any redder.  


“Oh, good, good.” You can tell Grillby is pointedly not looking at you. The amount of awkwardness in and around you in this moment is almost stifling, and you need to do something to break it. You kind of feel the need to explain yourself, so you rush into your reason for this situation.  


“You're just such a nice person and really cute and hot and funny and it's warm and comforting whenever I get really close to you, so, yeah.” The small silence that follows is not as awkward as the one before. Happily it is broken by a crackle of laughter which makes you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. The breath is promptly sucked back in when you're pulled into a warm hug by the bartender, careful to mind the cup you have still manged to hold onto. You would practically say it was better then the kiss. It's like a heated blanket with feelings and kind words. All you could ask for really. You relax into the hug and feel like you could pretty much fall asleep right there. Your mind helpfully supplies that you could do that later before you reprimand it to slow down.  


You pull away reluctantly after a few moments and yawn because it must be around four in the morning. Grillby retains some of his composure before motioning over his shoulder. “Thank you for your kind words. We should continue this in the morning, perhaps?”  


You nod before smiling and shuffling off to your room. You turn back before closing your door. “Yeah. I would like that.” You shut the door as normally as you can manage before promptly putting your back to it and sinking to the floor. That went pretty much the best way it that could have ended. You are practically exploding inside and you can't keep a stupid smile off your face. You down the water and thank goodness that none of it spilled during that ordeal. If you're going to do this you need to be more careful about liquids. Ah, you're to tired to think about that now. You crawl back into the now cold bed and drop off to sleep with a giddy heart, dreaming about future adventures with the flaming man that lit up your life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so hard to write due to me getting a random writers block right in the middle, but I think I managed to do it. Thank you all so much for your kind comments and very helpful suggestions.  
> (￣▽￣)ノ

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to drop me a line!  
> http://hawkscape.tumblr.com/  
> https://www.youtube.com/c/HawkScape  
> http://hawkscape.deviantart.com/


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